By Doug Park, Director of Online Safety for Xbox

Today, Xbox and our partners in the Gamer Safety Alliance kick off the second annual Gamer Safety Week. This year’s theme is “account safety and security in the online world.” It’s important to protect your information to help prevent someone you don’t know or trust from gaining access to your account, possibly allowing them to wipe out an online reputation and history you spent years building.

Now is a great time for everyone in the family to do a quick account safety checkup. Here are some best practices to help ensure your family’s accounts are protected.

• Add security proofs like phone numbers, alternate email addresses, and security questions and answers to all online accounts where available, especially those that use your email address as your username.
• Be mindful about who you communicate with online, and never share sensitive information like passwords, addresses and payment details with people you don’t know and trust in real life.
• Have a family conversation about staying safe online. Tools like the PACT can help kick off the discussion on what is appropriate to play and when, who kids are allowed to communicate with, and what information should not be shared online.
• Download security updates; install and enable tools like virus, spyware and malware tools; and use phishing filters to help protect your devices and accounts.

Gamer Safety Week is an opportunity to be sure your family is doing everything it can to protect itself online. Have fun and stay safe!